Greetings NorCal pilots! My name is Randy Tyndall, SWA7161, the Crew Base Manager of the NorCal/KOAK Crew Base; I welcome you to look around and see the fun we are having at SWVA! If you feel you would like to join our fine organization please visit our corporate site by clicking the logo at the top of the page, orskip right to the pilot application. Also, please feel free to use the contact formfor any comments! And be sure to visit the POLICY page for any questionsabout NorCal's flying and operations or visit the manuals link to the left foruseful flying information! If you need help filing a PIREP, check out the PIREP Help page. So take to the air, we'll see you in the skies!

April 2012

Question, if April Showers bring May Flowers then what do MayFlowers bring...Pilgrims. Okay, poor attempt at humour, but "E" for effort. April and Spring are officially here. Better weather in many cases but lots of springtime thunderstorms and rain if you look for it. The hub is doing well. There are some who would be disappointed we didn't reach 500 hours in March, but not me. Seeing you guys fly and looking at all the PIREPs is all I ever need. Besides, 380 hours is still very respectable. March saw the arrival of a new spring bird. No, not the robin...the B737-800, Warrior One, N8301J. We had a pretty good event to bring her from Paine Field to Dallas Love Field. Tim Long and I made the flight...where were you?

March 2012

March, springtime in the Northern Hemispehere and fall "down under". My apologies for being so late getting the site updated but this month has been a busy one for me...that and the grandson has discovered the computer and wants to play "5 Games" all the time now. NorCal is on the mend and we are seeing numbers we haven't seen in quite awhile. I've had a lot of people thanking me for that, but they are thanking the wrong person. It's you, the NorCal crewbase that needs to here that and so...Thanks to each and every one of you for making NorCal what it is today. Now lets go fly!

February 2012

January 2012 is history as we roll into February, the shortest month of the year. After last month's very good showing I really don't know how February could be better...prove me wrong...I dare ya! January was also a painful month for some. We said goodbye to Neil Caeton, SWA7350, and James Ryan, SWA7400. Both felt that this just wasn't the time in their lives to be flying for SWVA and I respect that choice. Both are welcome back anytime. Another 16 left under less desireable terms. We're down to 34 pilots now, but February is here. Good weather, bad weather...nice days, cloudy days. Challenges are there...all ya gotta do is fly. See ya in the Southwest Skies.

New Feature: NorCal's NOTAM Flight Report.Have a flight that was or went bad; like tire/engine fires, equipment failures? Or you had a flight in real rough weather in low visibility? Well tell us about it. Give us a report with a few screen shots and a small story on what went wrong and how you handled it. Email me with your Flight Report and if I post it you'll receive up to 10 bonus hours and $1000 bonus pay. So, tell us your story!

Type Ratings:Looking to advance your type rating here in NorCal? RVP.PVP.CVP.ATVPCheck out the courses available at Steve's Flight School or browse in the NorCal Forum for information on how to achieve this and see the pilots who have taken these exams.

Virtual PAX:Virtual Passenger Accepting Reservation Soon! Want to ride along on one of my, (SWVA0002's) flights in real time video? Well stay tuned on how you can view one of my selected flights as a VA PAX.

SWVA KOAK's VATSIM status indicators:Are you an online pilot? Want all those in SouthwestVirtual to see where you are flying to? Well check out the NorCal indicators Here (Virtual Airlines #9891), or just click on indicators below and follow the instructions on how to add to your posts at SWV!

Be sure the check back in here as the month goes on. Now that I kinda know what I'm doing in here I will try to use this website more often, especially for our Flights of the Month and any special flights.

Also check here for notices about the VATSIM Friday Night Ops (FNO) location for the week as well as VATSIM Events of Interest.

Pilot Info and Stats

Welcome AboardNew Pilots:Welcome to all newly added air crews

March 2012Promotions and Awards:Promotions:Check out Promotions in the newPilots Lounge!

Be prepared for your flight!Click on the weather map above to see live National and Local weather. Service provided by the NOAA.

Be prepared for your flight!Search the airline and flight to get real time flight information and proper route. Registration is free and you can pace yourself with your real world counterpart.

Are you a New Pilot to NorCal? If so click on the California Flag above.

Want to see who's flying right now? Well, click on the NorCal 1300hr banner here above to see the operation's map and see who's flying

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It's been awhile in wait but here it is: SouthwestVirtualmerchandise. Click on the cup or decal above to get your own one of a kind SWV 737 items .

Track the flights of your fellow pilots here with vataware, just like flightaware you can see where other sim pilots have flown and the route they used. Click on the image to track your flight and others.

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Click above for events planned at SWV and fly with your fellow pilots.